Is My Phylactery Showing?: 2013

Prepare the Way

Isaiah 11:1–10; Romans 15:4–9; Matthew 3:1–12

We have two messages in today’s readings. The first message is that salvation is coming to all of us—Jews and Gentiles alike—in the form of a savior, the Messiah or Christ. The second message is that we need to prepare his way through repentance.

When we talk about the Gospel message, we’re talking about a new answer, a new solution to the problem of sin. The Israelites had been given an answer: the Law of Moses. By fulfilling the Law of Moses, Israel was to find its way to the Promised Land and to salvation. But in their journey, in their walk with Moses, they seemed to get further and further away from the purpose of the law and from God, even as they drew nearer to the lands of Canaan promised to Abraham.

Nov

White Knight

A small tribute stamped in leather

I played down as sentimental.

When I tooled those letters

I held in my mind that image

of you in a white lab coat

bustling through the clinic

giving the care I wished to have:

saving the world when I wanted saving.

But you did what you could do

you worked with what you had

and here I am

a testament of what

you’ve given to the world.

Thank you, father,

for what you have given to me

for these gifts you have passed to me.

Nov

Googy

That silly rubber face

reminds me of kewpies

but I’ve never heard

of a kewpie bunny.

Could be the first

one-eared varmint

who ever weaseled its way

into our toy chest.

But it’s your story

of a loved toy

its lobe lost among shoppers

that warms us

when Joy came through

and stitched on that remaining ear

a kewpie curl to replace

one missing ear.

Nov

Canyon

Sometimes the echo

rings all night

and I wonder

should I shout again?

If I sing a verse

will a voice join in

or will I be left

to harmonize alone?

This wide expanse

I want to bridge

to reach across

with an unsteady hand.

I fear the fall

but fear more that

which follows

stagnation.

So I reach into the void

and pray you will reach back.

Nov

Soundings

“The depth and breadth and height” she wrote.

How, I wonder, she fathomed

a love as deep as that one

and timeless as any Truth.

Beyond that league is this love, I know

and sound it daily to be sure.

Does it shrink? Is it constant? No.

It grows with every day

and soundings affirm

it strains the bounds

of my paltry soul

and swells to bursting.

I welcome the break

to release this grace to you

and let it flow like a river

and wash over as the tides

endless, timeless, beyond measure.

Nov

‘Stang Heaven

My eyes follow as

your white blur streaks by

I hear you singing Molly Hatchett

and flirt with disaster again.

A silver sliver of a dream

and you hold it tight

a bright place

to call your own.

In Van Morrison’s head you’d live

in gardens wet with rain

on cobblestone streets

a blue-eyed brown-eyed girl.

But for now you have

’stang heaven

your twenty-minute refuge

a fence to give shelter in the storm.

Nov

The Long Arms of God (32nd Sunday—Cycle C)

2 Maccabees 7: 1–14

2 Thessalonians 2:16–3:5

Luke 20:27–38

Our first reading is about seven sons who die unspeakable deaths. Our third reading is about seven brothers who all have the same wife. Wow! Who says scripture doesn’t make for good reading?

2 Maccabees 7 relates the story of a mother and her seven sons.

Nov

The Contracepted Marriage

A few days ago, I posted a link to a post on some advice that a father gave to a son about marriage that he eventually found compelling. The point is that marriage is not for you, or more precisely, about you. It's about your commitment to your future spouse and your children. The way that the message was conveyed perhaps made it sound a bit too self-sacrificial, but the idea intended was that you don't go into marriage with the attitude that it's about meeting your needs.

Nov

Don't sell yourself short. (Reflection for 31st Sunday—Cycle C)

Wisdom 11:22–12:2

2 Thessalonians 1:11–2:2

Luke 19:1–10

When I was sitting in the deacons' space at the parish office yesterday, I was thinking that I'd better prepare some notion of a reflection on the readings for this Sunday in case Fr. Henry wanted me to preach. (We usually know well in advance, but he had an awful lot on his plate this weekend.) However, he did preach, so no need for me to wing it.

Nov

Blessed Children of God (All Saints Day—Cycle C )

Revelation 7:2–4, 9–14

1 John 3:1–3

Matthew 5:1–12a

The gospel reading from Matthew for today is commonly called the Beatitudes, and it occurs at the beginning of Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount.” I was pleased when Fr. Henry asked me at our monthly clergy meeting to preach for this holy day because I wrote my thesis on Luke’s version of the sermon. But then he added, “Bill, please… please don’t read your dissertation to them.”

So at Fr.

Is My Phylactery Showing?

Faithful Catholic or modern-day pharisee? Sometimes I might be a bit of both.